


right behind you

by sad_goomy



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Study, Childhood Friends, Coming of Age, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Lionheartshipping, Pre-Canon, Self-Discovery, the love for sonia is real in this chili's tonight, well....a little more complicated than that but you get the idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:07:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22149922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sad_goomy/pseuds/sad_goomy
Summary: Sonia is Leon’s best friend, rival, and perpetual guide. She’s always just a few steps behind, always just a shout away.Until she isn’t.
Relationships: Dande | Leon/Sonia
Comments: 56
Kudos: 301





	1. falling

It’s just typical of him to get lost in Wedgehurst, tiny little Wedgehurst. 

“Sonia?” 

She hears him clear as day, sees his head of long purple hair whipping around as he stands in the middle of the road next to the boutique, having taken the one possible wrong turn on the way to the lab. 

With the energy of a jaded thirty-something (despite only just turning eight), Sonia sighs, looking down at the Yamper at her feet and jerking her head towards the boy. The Pokémon goes running, yipping its head off and drawing Leon’s attention as she calls, “Over here Wooloo-for-brains!” 

His eyes light up, and he’s smiling so wide that she feels her annoyance dissipate, just a little. They haven’t been friends for very long – she came to live with Magnolia just last summer – but he has a dangerous smile, that much she can tell already. She gets the feeling that if it becomes any more brilliant, he might just convince her to guide him everywhere they go. 

“Sorry, Sonia.” He at least has the decency to look sheepish, bending down to pet Yamper as he adds, “I’ll get it next time.” 

She hums, unconvinced but unwilling to push it. Leon’s her only friend so far, and he’s nice, _so_ nice, even if he tends to ramble about battling and training too much, and he hides his pretty hair under hats that irritate her ever-shifting sense of style. Part of her wonders if they might still end up friends if she hadn’t moved to Wedgehurst, if he hadn’t spent so much of his time trying to convince her grandma to give him a starter and endorsement at too early an age. 

But a part of her, a part that’s growing bigger every day, doesn’t even want to consider the possibility. 

“C’mon, my gran will skin me if we take any longer.” She turns, leading them back down the road as Yamper scampers along, deftly avoiding their feet as they walk. 

Leon chuckles as he adjusts the snapback on his head, his newest one that’s a blinding white. “Aw, she’s not so bad.” 

And she isn’t, not really. If she was, Magnolia might not have taken her in at all, would have put up much more of a fuss instead of helping her lug her one suitcase up the stairs. 

But Sonia also knows her grandmother, knows how quiet their house can be when their conversation peters off into questions of her future, of what her parents would have wanted, so instead she settles on telling him, “Not when you’re around.” 

“Then I’ll always be around.” 

He says it like it’s the simplest thing in the world, and she supposes that for him, it is. In terms of people, Leon is simple, and not in a bad way, just in a gets-what-he-wants way. She suspects he might’ve never heard “no” in his life, that he has the sort of easy confidence and one-track determination that always gets him what he wants eventually. Of course he’d go around making promises like that, all too sure that he can keep them. 

It’s a nice promise, too, one she’d like to believe. 

But Sonia knows better, knows already that people will leave and people will change, so she ignores the flutter of her heart and instead rolls her eyes at him. 

“What? Don’t believe me?” he splutters, trying to catch her eye as he circles around, walking backwards just to force her to face him. 

“You’re full of it.” 

He stops, forcing her to stop, too, and picks up Yamper. His bottom lip juts forward in a pout, his chin resting atop her Pokémon’s head as the little dog’s tongue lolls out of his mouth. 

“Is this the face of a liar?” It’s unbearably cute, has her cheeks igniting as she brushes past him, shaking her head. His laugh follows her, wraps around her shoulders like her favorite shawl as he catches up to her quickly, placing Yamper down. He shoves his face next to hers, waving his arms wildly as he gets in her way and chirps, “Sonia, Sonia look at me, look! This is my honest face.” 

“Shove off!” She gives his chest a playful shove, and he pretends that it sends him stumbling back a few steps, because that always gives her a pleased little smile. He grins wide, and then he’s off and running, Yamper barking as he runs along with him. 

And he gets to the end of the road and makes another wrong turn, so Sonia shakes her head, huffing through her smile as she runs after him, always just a few yards behind. 

* * *

She weaves her way through the crowd, mumbling half-hearted apologies as she keeps her eyes peeled. Leon’s right at the front, tugging at his jersey and his hat, head staring straight-ahead at the field. With a smile, she takes the empty spot just behind him, tutting over his shoulder, “One? Someone’s feeling confident.” 

“No more than usual.” His shoulders relax slightly, his smile lighting something in her. With a quick glance over her – he's hit his first growth spurt, so that now he has to look down at her – he adds with a nod, “You look cute.” 

Sonia gets an idea, the sort she’s starting to have more of ever since she noticed his shoulders have been getting broader and his jaw has grown sharper. She pops a hip out and twirls the ends of her hair around her finger with a smirk. “Don’t I always?” 

His face absolutely ignites, and she has to bite on her cheek to keep from laughing as his eyes grow wide and his voice comes out close to a squeak. “W-well yeah, but I meant...Clips. Your hair clips. Are cute.” 

“I’m only teasing.” 

“No, y-yeah, I know,” he stumbles, and his gaze is torn between looking down at his feet and up at her face. It’s been a nice change of pace for her to realize that the unflappably confident boy in the next town over is actually a mess if she bats her eyelashes or says the right thing. 

It’s probably not the sort of thing that a best friend would take delight in; she may still not have many friends, but Sonia knows that friends don’t have the sort of thrill run through them that runs through her when she grabs Leon’s hand now, when she catches him looking at her lips. 

But there’s a lot that’s changing right now, and she can’t afford to have him change on top of it. 

With a shrug, she looks over the heads in front of her, out at the glimpses of green artificial grass that she can catch. “Figured I’d try something new, y’know? Feels like this is the big start of something.” 

“C’mon Sonia, it’s the opening ceremony! It’s the start of _everything_.” He’s smiling wide again, elbowing her gently in the side and forcing her to look at him; like she guessed, his smile has only gotten brighter, more targeted at the softest, most sentimental parts of her. 

It’s the smile he used to convince her to take Magnolia’s endorsement along with him, to join him in the gym challenge despite her tepid protests. Even now, minutes before it officially begins, Sonia finds herself hemming and hawing, chewing her cheek and twirling her hair around her finger as she wonders if it’s too late to walk out. 

But he’s smiling at her and she knows that as much as she needs him as a friend, he needs her just the same. 

“It will be if you don’t get lost on your way to the pitch.” 

He gapes, frowning at her snicker as he rolls his eyes, making a show of puffing out his chest (and it _is_ quite a show now, now that he’s fifteen and she’s paying attention to things like that in ways that she hasn’t before). “Laugh it up now, because you won’t be getting these cracks in when I’m Champion.” 

“I’ll always get the last word,” she chuckles, and there’s a ripple in the crowd as the music starts and the trainers in front of them start moving. Sonia jerks her chin and Leon turns, the two of them facing the blinding lights of the field as she whispers in his ear, “Now go, I’m right behind you.” 

The roar of the crowd follows them as they step out, and she stays true to her word, following his footsteps and trying not to think about how much longer his stride has grown, how sure and steady he walks as her fingers fidget and her gaze goes to the nearest exit one more time. 

* * *

As the sun sets on the Wild Area, Sonia feels its warmth on her back as she climbs up the hill in front of her, the sounds of a familiar Pokémon team goading her on. 

When she reaches the top, she finds a hastily put together campsite, and the best friend she hasn’t seen in almost a week sitting on the ground, a cutting board in his lap and a small knife in hand. 

Leon grins up at her, his snapback about to fall off his head from the angle. “Took you long enough, Slowpoke.” 

“At least I know how to set up a tent.” She steps up next to his, tilting her head as she spots at least seven spots that look seconds from caving in. “Yours is about to blow over with a breeze.” 

“No way – sturdy as the Wyndon monorail.” 

She raises a brow, lifts her right hand, and flicks the side of his tent. 

It goes rolling over itself, tumbling down the hill and sailing towards the river as they watch it in silence, even Leon’s team pausing in their play to observe it. 

When it comes to an anticlimactic stop at the bottom, landing on its side and collapsing almost in half, he turns to give Sonia a sheepish grin as he asks quietly, “Help me?” 

“Next you’ll be wanting me to fix the curry, too.” She rolls her eyes for good measure, really tries to put up a front that he’s a nuisance and not an incredibly welcome sight after the last few days she’s had. 

His eyes flicker down to the berries he’s messily slicing and then back up at her. “Actually...” 

_“Leon.”_

She crosses her arms, looking down at him with all the stern authority she can muster, but it pales in comparison to the wide smile he gives her, even clasping his hands together in a prayer as he pleads, “Pretty please with Alcremie on top?” 

And it’s a wonder that they always fail to mention just what a _dork_ he is when they talk about him on the news. He’s the one to watch, already building his reputation as a force of nature, a savant at just fifteen. They’ll talk about his team, his battle strategy, his training regimen, and Sonia watches them and wonders when they’ll actually talk about Leon, about how he gets lost on his way to the bathroom, or his mile-a-minute mouth. 

They don’t really talk about her in those same segments, but that’s okay. Really, it’s all right, because he still calls her his rival, still challenges her to battles (that she loses) and that’s enough for her. She will make it be enough. 

She tightens her ponytail, pushes up her sleeves as she bends down to take the cutting board out of his lap, missing the blush on his cheeks as she tells him, “Right then, go get your tent before it falls into the river.” 

He gives her a salute and a wink, and she nearly lets it slip that he’s cute like this, but she decides he doesn’t need his head getting any bigger and only chuckles as she starts on their dinner. 

It’s a good dinner, and it’s a nice conversation they have along with it, about the things they’ve seen in the Wild Area, the trainers they’ve come across, and Leon’s gesturing with his fork through the air as he recounts how he escaped a Gyrados, only to get even more hopelessly lost, and Sonia very nearly chokes on her curry when she laughs too hard at a particularly screwy face he pulls. He smiles, patting her back to help but too pleased with himself for having nearly killed his best friend. 

As he rambles through their clean-up, convinces her to stay the night in his tent with another of his smiles, she decides it’s not a wonder but a shame that they don’t talk about him in the way she sees him, because she thinks then they’d adore him right alongside her. 

“–so Kabu’s going to be tough.” 

She blinks out of her thoughts, staring up at the ceiling of the tent as he finishes up his rant about strategy. When she turns her head to look at him lying beside her, she can feel the static build in her hair, but can’t find it within her to care. After so many years of knowing each other, he’s managed to see her in the rare moments when she isn’t put together, so she figures he can handle her hair being a little frizzy. 

“That explains why you’re out here so late,” she hums, and he manages what he can of a shrug as he lies on his side, holding his head up with a hand. 

“You know me, always training.” His brows furrow as he asks, just a hair hesitant, “Isn’t that why you’re out here?” 

She swallows, sitting up and avoiding his eyes. “Yeah.” 

It’s a lie, but a small one, and her stomach turns at the thought of telling him the truth; she was just walking, drowning in thoughts of how she could just keep walking and no one would stop her. But the more she walked, the more she thought about what she’s doing right now, how she’s avoiding the next gym and dreading her next battle because it’ll just give her all the more things to overthink. 

And depending on how all this goes, this is what she’ll be doing for the rest of her life. 

“Hey Lee.” Her voice is quiet, but they’re close and he hears her, perking up as he listens. She chews on her bottom lip, pulling a knee up to her chest. “When all this is over, what’re you gonna do?” 

“Well I’ll be Champion, so I reckon I’ll have to do some PR stuff, and then I’ll be battling as much as possible,” he tells her with a smirk on his lips. 

She groans, rolling her eyes, and his laugh fills the tent. “Arceus, you’re cocky. Fine, what about _after_ you’re Champion?” 

He thinks for a moment, fingers playing with the zipper of his sleeping bag, and she watches, quietly enraptured. When he catches her eye, there’s still a sparkle of mischief there, and she nearly tells him to can it before he’s replying, “If I’m not Champion, then it’ll be because I’m ancient, so I guess...die?” 

“You’re a right charming conversationalist.” 

“I’m a riot at parties.” 

Sonia sits back, her hands on the ground behind her as she fixes him with one of her looks, not quite a scowl so much as it is world-weary, and he’s doing a poor job of hiding the chuckle that wants to escape him at the sight of it. “You don’t go to parties – you're too busy training.” 

“I have to if I’m going to keep up my winning streak.” His focus goes back to his zipper, and he seems to collapse in on himself, so that when she blinks, he’s eight years-old and they’re back in Postwick. Something about his voice is different, too, softer than it has been in a while, and she didn’t realize how long it’s been since their last late-night chat when they would ramble about a world of things they were only starting to understand. 

“And when I’m Champion, I’ll make sure everyone feels strong, that they all have the chance to reach their full potential, no matter what.” 

Her chest clenches, and she can’t even begin to put the affection she feels into words (and besides, doing that would scare them both, she knows it). Instead, she settles on mumbling simply and sincerely, “That’s real sweet.” 

“You think so? I don’t know, just something I’ve been thinking about lately.” He looks up at her through his dark eyelashes, and there's a faint blush on his cheeks that he plays off with a shrug – he's gotten good at that, at brushing off his bashful moments, at becoming this confident young ace that they love to espouse in the papers. 

Maybe they don’t talk about him as a dork because he isn’t one. Maybe he hasn’t been one for a while now, and she’s just clinging onto what she knows, hoping against hope that he could remain the same Leon she’s always known. 

She knows how to talk to a dork obsessed with battles, knows where she fits into the life of her best friend. 

She doesn’t know how she would factor into a Champion’s story, not when she can’t actually give him a run for his money. 

So she plays with the ends of her hair, can’t hold his gaze because there’s something so foreign to her in it, something she suspects even he doesn’t realize is there. As a silence settles on them, it feels smothering, and it reminds Sonia that she doesn’t have an answer to her own question. When she chances a glance at Leon, she can see his brows furrowing, his mouth about to casually ask her the same thing, and the panic of being discovered as a fraud amongst a driven generation is the catalyst her mouth needs to blurt something out. 

“Nessa thinks you’re fit, by the way.” 

It’s a lie; Nessa doesn’t find many boys fit, and of the few names she’s dropped, Leon’s is decidedly not one of them. 

But she wants him to get flustered in a way that only Leon can, wants to prove to herself that he hasn’t gotten too tall for her to hold things over his head like she did when they were younger. 

Instead, his nose scrunches up in thought, his mouth open and closing a few times before he asks, “Who?” 

“Challenger from Hulbury. Our age, tall, blue hair.” 

“Uh huh.” 

“You don’t have a clue who I’m talking about.” 

“Not one.” 

He chuckles, a little self-conscious, when she rolls her eyes. It should be more than enough reason for her to drop the subject, but instead she goes to her bag, digging around for a moment before pulling out her phone. A few taps later, she has Nessa’s Y-Comm page pulled up, passing it off to Leon and watching his reaction as he scrolls through the girl’s photos. 

“Oh. She’s, uh, she’s pretty.” There’s a bit of that fluster, still there, but then it’s gone and he looks up at Sonia with a spark of competition. “She has that Drednaw, right?” 

She nods and takes her phone back from him, shoving it back in her bag as she mumbles, unsure what answer she’s wanting, “Want me to give her your number?” 

“You know I don’t have time for that stuff, Sonia.” 

He’s frowning softly. It’s more thoughtful than she’s used to on him, and she gets this weird desire to kiss the line of tension forming between his brows. It’s the sort of thought that pops up more and more frequently when she thinks about him, and they don’t surprise her anymore, just give her a pleasant ache that she wants him to soothe. 

But she doesn’t see him for days at a time, and they’re friends, and if she kept walking today, she has this horrible feeling in her gut that she's too far behind for him to follow. 

“Yeah, I know Mr. Undefeated.” With a little grunt, she falls back onto her sleeping bag, and when she turns her head, her nose is centimeters from his. Her breath gets stuck in her throat for a moment, and it takes a hard swallow for her to dislodge it before she speaks, and her voice is so much heavier than she thought it would be. “But you don’t seem to get it.” 

“Get what?” he asks, clearly confused and nearly annoyed at her, like she’s speaking some coded language; in a way, she is, and she can’t tell if she wants to give him the cipher yet. 

With a little smile, she bites back a giggle, because it’s just so _Leon_ of him to be so oblivious to the attention he’s getting, to what potential he has, to all the secret desires someone like her can have about him. 

“You’re...” And there are a million words to describe him, but they aren’t coming to mind, not in this moment when she’s staring so deeply into his eyes and realizing the final straw that will ruin them. “You’re really something.” 

“Something good?” 

It has a twist of innocent hopefulness that makes her giggle, and he’s smiling but it’s small and so warm, and she finds herself leaning just a little closer towards him so that she can feel his warm breath on her lips. 

“Something _really_ good.” 

This is the moment when she realizes that she is, irrevocably, irredeemably, in love with her best friend. 

And it is also the moment when she realizes that he will not stay her best friend. 

“Sonia, I...” His voice trails off and his eyes snap downwards, away, like he’s frightened in a way he’s never been around her, and she caused it with her biggest misstep so far. 

It’s enough to make her flinch, to scoot back immediately as she blinks and finds that she’s somehow looking at a stranger now. How can she not tell what he’s thinking? How have they started growing in different directions? 

How can she not find the space she fills in his life? 

She turns, hiding the red sting of rejection on her cheeks as she pulls her phone out of her bag, mumbling, “We should get some sleep. Reckon you’ll want to be up early, so I’ll set an alarm, yeah?” 

“Y-yeah, thanks.” She doesn’t dare turn around, but she hears him swallow and the rustling of his sleeping bag. It’s all the response he owes her, but she goes reading into it, only to find that she needs a cipher twice as badly as he does. 

As her phone screen goes dark and she shuts off the lantern, he whispers, “Night, Sonia.” 

“Night.” Her voice is tight, trying to keep out a strange flow of tears at a loss that she can’t explain. She thinks maybe he’ll hear it, maybe he’ll ask her about it in that one curious but soft tone he has. 

His soft breathing becomes rhythmic, and she’s sure he’s fallen asleep, leaving her alone in the dark. 

Finally, she dares to turn in her sleeping bag, and finds that his back is facing her. There are muscles that she’s never seen before, and his hair is getting longer, unruly. His shoulders move just a bit with each breath, and she thinks she’d like to massage them, work out the knots that are starting to build as he adds more and more weight to his future. 

There’s that sweet ache again, and it’s so strong now but so bittersweet on her tongue as she realizes how unfair it is of her to expect him to take on the burden of it. 

She wonders again where she might fit into a Champion’s life; really, if she’s worried, she should just ask him, because who better to know than the future Champion himself? 

But she’s ruling out possibilities on her own, and she doesn’t know what's left for her. 

Sonia dreams that night about walking, without stopping, for years and years and with no one calling for her to come home. 

* * *

She only knows that he hasn’t made it to Spikemuth yet because some guy named Raihan is making a big deal of it on Y-Comm. 

But she also knows it’ll only be because he’s lost, and so Sonia scrolls through Raihan’s thread of victory selfies, doesn’t find any other helpful information, and slides her phone back into her bag before setting off with her Yamper to search the area around the city. 

It’s late afternoon when she checks the bridge, and catches a flash of purple and tan skin on the far end of it, walking in the exact wrong direction for Spikemuth. Sure enough, as she enters Hammerlocke and spots the figure again, it’s Leon. He’s paused outside the train station, unfolding a map before looking up, turning the map clockwise, and then sighing.

“Oh just ask for directions already.” 

His face lights up when he first spots her, only to fall into a concerned frown when she walks closer. “Sonia! You’re looking a little tired.” 

“Yeah, that’s just what every woman wants to hear.” She rolls her eyes, but she knows he’s right. It’s been a while since she got a proper night’s sleep, and it’s been even longer since she felt he could tell them that. 

Their meetings are fewer and further between, and it doesn’t feel right for her to bog it down with her problems, not when he’s gained so much momentum, when he’s so excited to talk about the gym challenge. 

With a shrug, she avoids his eyes, explaining away his concern with a quick, “I’ve just been thinking.” 

He grins, impossibly wide and bright as he folds up his well-worn map, shoving it back into his bag. “About how to win without Dynamaxing?” 

Yamper barks, grabbing the boy’s attention as he scratches at his leg, demanding attention. Leon turns his smile on the Pokémon, reaching down to pet his back. It gives Sonia ample opportunity to frown, to ignore the ache, to think of an answer that isn’t really an answer. 

Her thoughts haven’t been particularly unpleasant, but they’ve been melancholic and far removed from what Leon wants to talk about. She’s wondering what sort of life she’ll be able to scrape together, if she can face Magnolia when she knows that her grandmother’s endorsement was wasted on her – he's wondering what team to put together for the finals. 

His smile and his future are so bright now, she wonders if it blinded her to the unpleasant truth that she’s a footnote in his memoir (and never mind the state of hers, if there’ll be anything that could be worth the paper it’s printed on). 

“About how you’re never going to make it to the finals when you can’t even make it to Spikemuth.” He looks up at her, pouting, and she smiles, just a little, because it’s so close to how they used to be. 

“I followed the map exactly.” 

“Yeah, exactly to Hammerlocke.” Yamper looks between the two, barks, and then sets off at a little trot back the way they’ve just come from, towards Spikemuth. Sonia sighs, stepping behind Leon to give his shoulders a light shove as she tuts, “C’mon, Yamper’s got it.” 

The white noise of Hammerlocke leaves them as they cross the bridge, sweeping vistas helping to fill the silence. There’s a lot of silence between them now, one that’s grown longer and longer with every badge he’s gotten. As much as she loves to listen to him ramble about Pokémon, there are other people, more qualified people he can talk to about that now, and there isn’t much else that’ll draw his focus. He’s always had a one-track mind; she just thought maybe she could stay on the train car with him, just for a little longer. 

Yamper stops just before the tunnel to Spikemuth, wagging his tail and tongue lolled out as he pants from all his running. Sonia smiles at the sight, not quite catching Leon’s thoughtful look as he asks her over his shoulder, “You think you’re ever going to evolve him?” 

Her chest clenches, face growing still as she shrugs in response, because she doesn’t trust her voice to respond. 

Because the answer is no, and that would be unfathomable to him, and she would have to watch his brows furrow in confusion as she tries to explain how she doesn’t need that change, how this has never really been about battling for her. 

She would have to be reminded that they’re speaking two different languages now. 

Instead, she shifts her focus to the buzz in her back pocket, her phone trying to alert her. Maybe it’s a message from Nessa – they've been talking more lately, in between Nessa’s own challenge, and it’s nice but there’s still distances to it – or maybe some post from one of the people she follows on Y-Comm. 

Which brings her mind back to the emoji-filled tirade she found earlier, and she sighs, “You should check your Y-Comm more often – some kid named Raihan’s being a prick.” 

Leon nods, stopping to give Yamper another pet before the little creature bolts off once more, yipping down the tunnel. He adjusts the straps of his backpack as he gives Sonia a lopsided smile. “Yeah, we’ve had a couple battles. He’s a right tough trainer with weather conditions, and cocky as all get out, but not so bad once you get to know him.” 

That means that he’s gotten to know him, and she wonders how often they talk, wonders if their battles are more exciting, more of a challenge than hers have ever been with him. Something like jealousy shoots through her, and she shakes it off because that’s a silly notion, to be jealous that he’s making other friends; after all, she is, too. 

It’s just that her friends aren’t his friends and it’s leaving her wondering if they’re even still friends. 

“Sounds like you've got a real rivalry going,” she mumbles, when she realizes she’s been a little too quiet for a little too long. 

“He’ll make it to the semifinals at least, and I can’t wait to beat him.” He smiles at her as they walk, and it's brilliant and it aches and it lights the spark of optimism he ignited in her long ago, one that’s dwindled to embers at this point, barely glowing. “And you’ll be cheering for me, yeah?” 

She gives him her own smile, and for just a moment, things are as they should be, as they’ve always been. “Of course.” 

And then they reach Spikemuth, and he’s looking forward again with his lips parted in surprise at the sight of the metal shutter blocking off the entrance of the city. “Uh oh.” 

A crowd has gathered, and at the front is one of the other gym challengers, a pale boy who’s been keeping to himself, talking to several people in pink and black. They’re yelling now, and the crowd is trying to push forward, and Sonia scoops up Yamper as she thinks, looking around before she spots what might be a path off to their right. 

Leon turns to look at her, about to open his mouth when she nudges her head towards the patch of wild grass that curves around the building. “C’mon, there’s a side entrance.” 

“How do you know that?” He stumbles after her, glancing back at the crowd before focusing on his steps, and she’s glad for it because heaven knows he might still get lost if he keeps his eyes off her for too long. 

“There’s always a side entrance, you just have to know where to look.” She throws him a wink as they walk around, and sure enough, there’s a gap in the buildings more than wide enough for them to slip through. 

He gives her another brilliant smile, and she shoves the thought of covering it with her lips as far down as she can. “You really are the smartest of us, Sonia.” 

It’s not empty praise – Leon's not the type to throw something like that out without meaning behind it, but still. Fat lot of good being supposedly so smart has done her. 

She nods towards the alley, both their eyes going to the glimpses of neon flickering just beyond. “Should be a straight shot to the gym.” 

“You’re not coming?” he asks, and the warmth is gone from his face, something flickering in his eyes that she can’t decipher. 

Sonia hugs Yamper a little tighter to her, her chin on top of his head as she looks down at the ground. 

“I’ll...catch up.” 

Leon keeps looking at her, disbelieving and concerned, and she can’t have that. He’s wasting time on her problems when he has a badge to get, a real rival he needs to catch up to. 

She gives him a smile, puts her all into faking it, and it’s enough to at least get him to nod, the tension in his shoulders easing up just a little as he turns, running into the alley and calling out, “Don’t fall behind now!” 

As he disappears into the darkened city, she doesn’t bother telling him that she fell behind back in Circhester, that while he’s been winning match after match, gaining news coverage and fans, she’s been wandering aimlessly, walking past gyms and ignoring calls from her grandmother. 

Sonia never does finish the gym challenge. 

When they air the final Championship match two weeks later, she doesn’t watch, because she already knows the outcome. She can hear them announce his name on the television downstairs as she lays in her bed, staring at her desk and waiting for her phone to light up with a message from him, or maybe a call, because as busy as Leon gets, he always finds a moment for a friend. 

But a Champion doesn’t have time for a girl who doesn’t know what she wants, and so she pulls the covers over her head and tries to find some solace alone in the dark. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was supposed to be something short exploring a possible backstory for Sonia and Leon and now it's a behemoth of emotional introspection I don't know how this happened
> 
> also I promise things will get better/fluffier in chapter 3, hang in there folks


	2. landing

Her grandma is a hard one to read. 

She isn’t exactly disappointed when Sonia shows up at home with an incomplete medal and no intention to talk about why she dropped out of the gym challenge without a word. Her face shifts into something vaguely upset when she finds out that her granddaughter also has no firmer grip on her life plans to show for her failed attempt. The questions she asks are just south of invasive, and she never raises her voice, but somehow that seems to make it worse, agitates Sonia to the point that she stays out as late as possible just to avoid Magnolia’s polite concern. 

Of course, that sets off a not-argument in the morning about where her priorities lie, what potential she’s wasting, and she snaps back that it’s _her_ life to ruin. 

And as she scrolls through Y-Comm on her computer on a Friday night, that last point feels less and less like a dramatic outburst. 

Old classmates are traveling to other regions, taking on apprenticeships at gyms, establishing themselves as coordinators, falling in love, campaigning for change, starting at renowned companies, promoting– 

Her phone buzzes to life with a call, vibrating on her desk as the screen lights up with Nessa’s photo. 

“What are you doing in an hour?” 

Sonia stares at her computer screen, at yet another photo of smiling faces and an impressive Pokémon team. She debates on the level of self-deprecation she should use, if “feeling sorry for myself” is more pitiful than funny at this point, so she settles on mumbling, “Not much.” 

“You’re my plus one to Raihan’s do, then.” That’s too familiar of a name, strikes a chord that she’s tried to cut within her but that still resonates. Before she can argue, come up with some half-truth about being too tired, Nessa adds with a sigh, “I’d skip, but he’s got it in his head that I’m intimidated by him or something, and he’s way too chuffed about it.” 

“Well we can’t have that tarnish on your reputation.” 

Nessa hums, clearly sensing Sonia’s apathy because she puts a little extra plea in her voice. “It’ll be in and out, promise. You can wear that green dress – I know you’ve been dying to.” 

She has, and she turns her head to look at where that very dress hangs on the door of her closet, glittering in the light of her lamp. It’s just the right amount of slinky, and she’ll look _really_ good in it. 

So that’s how she finds herself in a penthouse apartment in Hammerlocke, surrounded by Galar’s best and brightest as they get sloshed and share stories of their travels, of their discoveries, of their this, that, and the other thing that has Sonia refilling her drink and tucking herself into a corner. She lost Nessa an hour ago, and the Hulbury gym leader isn’t responding to her texts, so it’s safe to say that “in and out” has turned into “in for the night.” 

At least one of them is having a good time. 

At least one of them has made something of herself. 

“Hey, Nessa’s mate!” 

Well, that’s just the stab to her ego that she didn’t need in this moment. 

Sonia turns her head, and feels her stomach sink when she realizes that the man of the hour is approaching her with a wide grin. Raihan is even taller in person, and she hears a faint voice, one she hasn’t spoken to in a few years now, tell her that he’s cocky but knows his weather conditions. 

She shuts that voice up and puts as much of a smile as she can on her face. “Hey.” 

“You look good.” 

“Thanks,” she mumbles, because she knows, and she made up her mind to leave five minutes ago, so the sooner this conversation wraps up, the better. As much as she’d love for him to tell her all about his exploits as a gym leader, about his journey as a trainer, about just how ridiculously well he’s doing, she’s already pulling out her phone to get her sad playlist ready for the flying taxi home. 

If he notices her absolute lack of interest (and judging by his unfocused gaze, that’s a no), then he ignores it and leans against the wall, studying her as his brows furrow. “Say, have we met before?” 

Sonia scrolls through her music. “No.” 

“Yeah, but you’re real familiar.” He hums in thought, taking a sip from his cup. 

She expects him to mention Magnolia, because that’s how all these people know her. That’s how all these people like to size her up, like to try and throw her a softball before they ask what she’s up to these days. 

Just once, she’d like to talk about herself as herself, and not as Magnolia’s granddaughter, or Nessa’s friend, or– 

“Oh, you were Leon’s old rival, right? He’s here, y’know, I can go get him.” 

Her heart stops, leaps up into her throat, and chokes her then and there. 

Except it doesn’t have the decency to kill her, or at least knock her out before the memories come flooding back. Memories she’s kept tucked away for years now, that she’s managed to not think about for months at a time, and now they’re vivid and loud and all centered around a boy who is somehow the best and worst thing to happen to her. 

Raihan’s smile drops slightly, so she must have some sort of look on her face when she meets his gaze, because he’s leaning down and asking, “Hey, you feeling all right?” 

“Need some air,” she mutters, her grip on her phone tightening as she turns, abandoning her cup on the first surface she passes – a counter, maybe, from how cold the marble is against her skin. Some part of her brain registers that Raihan shouts after her once, twice, but it’s not like she can hear it, not over the faint voice in her head that’s growing louder and louder and making her heart stutter as her stomach turns. 

_“Then I’ll always be around.”_

She weaves her way through the crowd, shoving past bodies and blinking what-ifs and forgotten daydreams out of her eyes. 

_“It’s the start of everything.”_

All these years, she’s been so _careful,_ so dutifully minding her lackluster orbit so that it doesn’t cross his, so that neither of them is reminded of where they started, so neither can see how far she’s drifted. 

_“Something good?”_

The humiliation creeps up her throat. She breathes in through her nose and out through her mouth, gets a grip on herself as she squares her shoulders and prepares to leave with at least a modicum of her dignity, because her confidence can’t take this final comparison. 

_“Don’t fall behind now!”_

Because in the years since he’s risen to the top, she’s fallen, and who was once her childhood friend is now the pinnacle of all she couldn’t achieve, of the one person she never wanted to let go who slipped away from her. 

And he’s standing right in front of her. 

Sonia freezes as she stares at the back of Leon’s head, eyes wide and lips parted as he laughs, shoulders shaking with the effort of it. 

If she squints, maybe she can still see the boy from Postwick, the one who was shorter than her and honestly asked her once if girls could sweat. She’d rolled her eyes at him then, shoved his chest and felt the vibrations of his laugh in her fingertips, and he smiled and it didn’t make her ache to see. 

He’s untouchable, now, just gives off the aura of someone important, of someone who always has better things he could be doing. 

Better people he could be seen with. 

A model, one of Nessa’s friends, is at his side, and as someone else in their little group starts talking, she’s placing a hand on Leon’s shoulder, leaning into his body, and Sonia can see the headlines now, her mind drawing up the magazine cover before her eyes. 

_“You know I don’t have time for that stuff, Sonia.”_

No, he doesn’t have time, not for her. No one does, to be fair, not when they’re out researching Dynamax phenomenon or running gyms or booking shows or getting promoted or– 

His head starts to turn, and for just a moment she swears she catches his eye, a warmer honey than she remembered, and she can see a corner of his lips turned up in a smile. 

And she turns, dashes blindly into the crowd and swearing up and down that she’s not a coward, that she’s not running away, that she’s not holding back tears. 

Best that she didn’t see his smile, she thinks, as she slides into the first flying taxi she sees and gives the cabbie her address before falling into the seat. 

It might have just convinced her that they were ever on the same level. 

* * *

Leon is more than happy to have a reason to excuse himself from the group he’s been trapped in at Raihan’s party – not that they aren’t lovely people, but he didn’t catch any of their names, and the girl who’s been sidling up to his side all night has been pretty pushy. 

This particular reason, though, leaves his mouth dry and stomach plummeting with every passing moment that he doesn’t catch sight of who he swore was Sonia. 

Sonia, who showed up in the next town over one summer and was the first person to actually listen to his ramblings. 

Sonia, who guided him to just about every gym, with her Yamper at her side and that one little smile only he could get out of her. 

Sonia, who he hasn’t seen since Spikemuth, who he keeps meaning to find and talk to in a series of missed connections and second guessing. 

_His Sonia._

He blinks at that particular thought, feels his stomach swoop with an old, fuzzy feeling that always confused him, and then it’s gone when he feels a hand on his shoulder and Raihan’s voice barks into his ear, “Where you off to in such a hurry?” 

“Did you see a girl pass through?” 

Raihan blinks, glancing to his left and right at the plethora of young woman in attendance tonight, and raises a brow. “You’re gonna have to specify, mate.” 

“Sonia.” His voice is a lot more desperate than he thought it would be, but he doesn’t have the time to unpack that, not when Raihan’s looking at him like he’s an idiot and he’s desperately looking around. “Redhead. Green eyes. Green dress.” 

The gym leader’s mouth forms a perfect ‘o,’ and then his brows are furrowing as his mind struggles to concentrate. “Yeah, yeah...met her just now.” Leon straightens, staring Raihan down as he adds with an aimless chuckle, “Sort of a funny bird.” 

“She’s my friend.” 

There’s a lot of bite in his tone, so much so that it even seems to sober up Raihan, who blinks at the Champion with wide eyes. He hesitates for a moment, taking in a sharp breath between his teeth as he looks to his right, almost sheepish. “You sure about that?” 

Is he? 

If someone had asked him a few years ago, his response would have been immediate, pure instinct as he nodded and spouted off about how not only was Sonia his friend, she was his _best_ friend. She’d send Yamper over to his house, code for him to come hang out as he followed the little Pokémon to Route 1 where she was no doubt waiting for him with a precocious smirk that had no business being on a little girl’s face. He would stay up late whispering to her over the phone, asking all the stupid questions that popped into his head, and she would tease him for it but answer him all the same before asking her own. When they set out together, every night that he camped he’d never quite set up his tent right, knowing that she’d be coming around and he’d then have the perfect excuse for her to stay a little longer. 

And then it stopped and everything else kept going and now he has an adrenaline rush at just the idea that they’re in the same room. 

“I mean, she sort of bolted at the mention of your name.” 

The words knock the air out of Leon’s lungs, have him turning to look at Raihan, feeling himself grow cold with the realization that she isn’t his best friend, she might not even be his friend, and after all these years, she might not want much to do with him. 

Still, he asks to nurse his wounded pride, “Are you sure?” 

“Could’ve just been a timing thing.” Raihan shrugs, tries to make it convincing, but the pit has formed in Leon’s stomach and he knows the truth. 

He’s being guided by the shoulder, Raihan muttering something about how they can get her number from Nessa, how something’s happening in the kitchen, and Leon’s nodding along, his body going through the motions as his mind retreats further and further into thoughts that leave a sour taste in his mouth. 

When they’re turning into a hallway, he looks over his shoulder. 

She’s not there; of course, she isn’t, but she could have been, could have stopped to see him, could have been the one person who still knew him as the scrappy kid from Postwick and not some high and mighty Champion. 

Raihan’s shoving him lightly into the kitchen, and there’s a shot being shoved into his hands and the girl from earlier is back at his side, laughing at something or other and he wishes he could find it within himself to tell her to stop touching him, to tell everyone that he’s going home, that for one night he’s just going to sit in his apartment and be Leon, be nothing great, be– 

_“You’re really something.”_

He takes the shot, and he makes sure everyone is having a champion time, and he keeps thinking about the snarky redhead from Wedgehurst who doesn’t want anything to do with him just when he’s realizing how badly he’s missed her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> something a little shorter to transition us into more of leon's perspective next chapter, when these two will actually interact again and we get into that promised fluff


	3. rising

Leon probably should have just waited for Hop to meet him at the station. 

His duffel bag swings with each step, and he shoves his hands into the pockets of his jacket. It’s been a mild winter, which is a small mercy because at least he doesn’t have to deal with snow on top of definitely being lost. Still, the chill is starting to get to him, and he tries to bury his face into the collar of his puffy jacket. 

As he walks down another hill – which is a bad sign, because Route 1 isn’t hilly – a familiar house comes into view. He slows his walk, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he debates whether or not he should really be bothering the Professor when she’s probably taking her own holiday break. On the other hand, his mother expected him home at least an hour ago, and if he only has a few days to spend visiting his family in Postwick, then he can’t really afford to spend another three hours being lost. 

He reaches the front door quickly and knocks, shifting his weight and trying to keep warm as he waits. No doubt Magnolia will tease him about his sense of direction, or scold him lightly for not wearing a scarf. The few times he’s crossed paths with her since becoming Champion, mostly while running an errand for Rose, she’s always fussed over his health, whether his cape is really warm enough or if he’s getting enough sleep. 

(The answers to which are no, it’s mostly just heavy and makes his shoulders ache once a week, and yes, considering how strictly the team in Wyndon are monitoring his diet, exercise, and the like.) 

But the footsteps he hears are light and quick, not the slow and deliberate ones that he’s used to, and his eyes widen as he realizes who it must be just as she opens the door. 

“Sorry, the professor isn’t–” 

Sonia’s wide-eyed stare punches the air out of his lungs as he realizes that it’s been over five years since they last spoke and her voice is still one of the sweetest things he’s ever heard. 

There’s a moment of complete silence, one that not even Rookidee dare to disturb, and they simply look at each other. Leon isn’t sure how long, doesn’t even bother to think about that because he’s too busy looking at Sonia and retracing the curve of her cheeks from memory. There’s something strangely comforting about seeing her in an old tank top and sweats, something that reminds him of the nights when she’d sneak into his bedroom to gossip or play video games. 

She swallows, tucking a strand of hair that’s fallen from her messy bun behind her ear. It’s just enough to break the strange spell cast over them, and she opens her mouth to say something, but he’s faster as he glides forward, duffel bag swinging with the movement. 

He wraps his arms around her, the scent of her shampoo hitting him full force because it’s different than the one she used to use, but better somehow. Her body is frozen for a moment, and he nearly pulls back, but then her arms slowly come up to hug him back and she’s warmer and softer than he remembered. 

It’s fragile. She’s holding him like he’s not quite real. He’s trying not to squeeze too hard because if he does, he gets the feeling it’ll shatter whatever this is. 

Something about it almost makes him want to cry. 

Instead, he pulls back, feeling sheepish as he scratches the back of his neck. “Hey, Sonia,” he mumbles, and it’s hard not to trip over his own tongue with everything he wants to say to her, “It’s been a while.” 

She keeps staring up at him, clearing her throat. Her eyes glance down, and she crosses her arms, suddenly self-conscious. “Yeah, it has.” 

"How are you?” 

Something crosses her face, something that makes it even harder to read her, and she sets her shoulders back. “I’m good,” she replies stiffly, as though she’s reading off a notecard, “I’ve been helping out at the lab more.” 

He nods, gives her a smile, but it can’t quite reach his eyes because he realizes that everything he’s prepared for this moment won’t work. When he’d pictured their reunion, he thought it’d be smiles and laughter, that they’d slide back into their old dynamic. He’d inevitably stick his foot in his mouth, and Sonia would tease him about it with a little smirk at her lips. 

But there isn’t a hint of playfulness in her tone, and her stance is all wrong, like someone’s telling her to watch her posture. Her eyes keep flickering away from his, as though she’s debating on how quickly she might be able to close the door on him. 

It dawns on Leon that they’re not quite friends anymore. 

And the thought hurts, because he doesn’t know how to fix that, doesn’t know when exactly things went wrong, doesn’t know how he can apologize for the absence of something. 

He opens his mouth, not quite sure what he’s trying to say, only for the sound of tiny feet scraping against the floor to interrupt him. They both turn, and his eyes widen as a small, round Pokémon clumsily slinks down the stairs and runs right to him in the doorway. 

“Yamper!” 

Leon smiles so wide that his cheeks hurt, his heart clenching at the pure excitement radiating off the little Yamper as he looks up at the Champion, wagging his tail so hard that his entire butt wiggles with the motion. He lets out a bark and then scratches at Leon’s leg incessantly until he picks the creature up, brushing his fur as he coos. 

The sight is enough to melt some of the ice in Sonia’s composure as she watches, finally letting her body relax as she leans against the doorway. She sometimes forgets just how small Yamper is, but in Leon’s arms the Pokémon looks tiny (and incredibly pleased at being so lavished with attention). 

“He probably sensed that you’re lost.” 

With a self-deprecating chuckle, Leon sets Yamper back down, mumbling, “He’s not wrong.” When he stands back up, she’s looking at him with a little lopsided smile, so close to the one she used to give him. It’s enough to spur him to action, to take advantage of the lighter air between them before it disappears again – before she disappears again. “I don’t know if you’re busy or anything, but could you help me out? I promised my mum I’d get home in time for lunch.” 

For just a moment, she hesitates, and then she looks down at Yamper, still wagging his tail and absolutely delighted, and the smile is back. “Sure.” 

“Awesome!” His grin very nearly splits his face, and he’s too busy riding the high of nostalgia that Yamper brought to think as he grabs Sonia’s hand, about to turn and walk as he laughs, “Just like old times, huh?” 

Sonia splutters, digging her heels in just before he drags her out the door, the chill sending a shiver down her spine. “Leon! I’m not decent.” 

When he turns to look back at her, there’s a blush on her cheeks and the tips of her ears, her eyes a brilliant green against the delicate red. He lets go of her hand, mumbling an apology as his chest clenches, as he commits the sight of her like this to memory for a reason he can’t articulate. 

“I’ll be just a minute,” she reassures, leaving the door open so he can step in from the cold. When he nods and closes the door behind him, she walks back up the stairs, leaving him to wait with Yamper by the door. 

He bends down, because the rotund little Pokémon is once again demanding pets, and he’s not one to deny a noble request like that. With his other hand, he reaches into his pocket and sees three new texts from Hop, all wondering where he is and asking if he needs help. With a smile, he types a quick response to his younger brother, letting him know Sonia’s saving the day. 

She’s coming back down in the next minute, dressed for the weather with jeans and a fluffy sweater. There’s a hair tie in her mouth as she quickly pulls her hair into a ponytail, pulling it tight as she makes her way back to the front door and grabs a heavy jacket off the coatrack. She turns to him, watching him stand as she chews her cheek, thinking about something he can only guess at now. 

“Ready?” 

“Lead the way.” 

Their walk is quiet, the silence between them filled in by Yamper’s occasional barks as he runs ahead, chasing after Rookidee or his own tail. Leon steals glances at Sonia out of the corner of his eye, tries to read her face, but all he can gather is that she’s deep in thought. There’s a crease between her brows, and she’s not exactly frowning but she’s certainly not smiling. 

Just when he’s about to open his mouth, she takes a deep breath and looks up at him. “How’ve you been?” 

He’s not sure how much to tell her (because she knows so much about him yet they aren’t really friends anymore), so he settles on a little less than he wants to, not wanting to bore her with the details or worry her. “The next season will be starting up after the holidays, so things will really kick up once I get back to Wyndon. Opal’s claiming this is the season she finally retires but we’ll see about that, and the other leaders are making their final preparations. I’ll be doing some press with them soon.” 

They reach Wedgehurst, walking down the main road as she lifts a brow at him, corner of her lips quirking up in amusement. “Well I’m glad to know the League is doing well,” she mumbles, and it’s just short of that teasing tone he’d grown used to hearing from her when they were younger, and she steps closer to him to bump into his side playfully as she adds, “But I recall asking how _you_ were.” 

Leon opens his mouth, closes it, and then thinks as they continue to follow Yamper down the well-worn path. 

It’s an answer he’s used to giving, that he’s been trained to give. When people ask him what’s going on at press conferences, he has a whole host of things to say about the League, or about Galar in general, and without ever meaning to he might have gone and tied himself a little too closely to both. Now, with her looking up at him, a little bemused at how long he’s taking, he finds it’s harder to find the answer than it probably should be. 

“Busy, I guess.” He locks eyes with her and she nods, and he finds that his mouth is moving ahead of his mind, too used to having her listening and too pent up with things he’s been ignoring to stop. “I uh, actually can’t tell if I’m stressed or not. Things are always busy.” 

“Oh, that can’t be good.” 

Their eyes meet as they step onto Route 1, and then they’re both chuckling, Leon adjusting the strap of his duffel bag as he mumbles, “Yeah, reckon it’s probably not.” 

She doesn’t push it further, probably because she realizes there isn’t a lot he can do to change it. Over the years, it’s been easier to just go with the flow, let himself get swept up in responsibilities and work rather than try to stop and fight it. By now it’s become his new normal, one that’s speeding down the tracks and any minor pause threatens to derail it completely. 

The chimney of his home comes into view, and her eyes are softer now, though still distant as she gives him a smile. “Then I’m glad you at least get to take a break now.” 

“Yeah.” They stop at the gate, and he looks down at her, unsure how his face must look but certain that it’s goofy with how she’s biting back a giggle at his expense. It’s so much better than when she first answered the door, and it’s all he needs to blurt out, “And I’m glad I ran into you – I missed you, Sonia.” 

Her breath hitches, and something flashes in her eyes that he can’t quite catch, but her smile soon returns, though her voice is small. “I missed you too, Lee.” 

A silence settles between them, just a little uncomfortable as she glances over to where Yamper’s sniffing at a mound of snow, and he adjusts his duffel bag, desperate for something to do with his hands. An idea comes to mind, but he hesitates on it, clearing his throat to get her attention and jerking his head back towards his house. 

“D’you wanna come in? Hop would love to see you.” 

“Oh, I can’t today,” she mumbles, smile faltering and eyes flickering off to Route 1. Leon feels his stomach drop, but she takes a quick breath and looks back up at him with a tilt of her head. “Tell you what though, I can give you my number and if you ever get another break, maybe I’ll cash that in.” 

“Ace.” He grins, pulling out his phone and handing it over to her, watching her fingers type before she hands it back to him with a small smile. 

For just a moment, he thinks about pulling her into another hug, realizing he’s not sure when he’ll next see her in person, but then she’s stepping back and out of reach, giving him a wave before setting off, Yamper at her feet. He waves back, watching her grow smaller until she’s at the edge of Wedgehurst. Only then does he find he can turn around, heading towards the house and getting a yard from the door before Hop runs out, enveloping him in a hug and talking a mile a minute. 

He laughs, and they head inside to find the rest of their family waiting in the living room, bombarding him with his questions about how his train ride was, and what he’s been up to, and how long he’s staying in Postwick. 

It’s only when things finally settle down an hour later and he’s left on the couch with a cup of tea to rest before dinner that he remembers he has Sonia’s number but she doesn’t have his, so he pulls out his phone and sends the first message that comes to mind. 

**From: Leon [16:42]**   
_Thanks again Sonia!! It’s too bad I can’t have Yamper lead me everywhere :P_

He tries to distract himself from the growing bundle of nerves as he waits for her response when Hop comes in and claims the other end of the couch, grabbing the remote and turning on the television. As he scrolls through a few channels idly, he steals a glance at Leon before mumbling, “Good thing you managed to run into Sonia.” 

“Yeah,” he replies absent-mindedly, a lopsided smile taking over his face before he can stop it, “Real good.” 

The younger boy pulls a face before rolling his eyes and settling on an old holiday movie playing. “Gross.” 

Leon’s about to ask him what he means by that when his phone buzzes once more, Hop shooting him a knowing look that he doesn’t catch, too busy looking at the photo Sonia sent. It’s one of Yamper in her lap, the Pokémon on his back on her legs as she rubs his belly with a manicured hand, his tongue lolling out. 

**From: Sonia [16:47]**   
_Don’t even bother, he’s too lazy_

As their grandfather comes in to join them, his voice mixing with Hop’s as they talk about the actress onscreen, Leon just smiles at his phone, feeling lighter than he has in months, maybe years. 

They’re not quite friends anymore. 

But they’re getting there. 

* * *

They start texting, just little updates about their day whenever one of them remembers. Leon’s always been bad about keeping in touch with people – he knows this, has heard his mom complain about it more than once – but he tries his best, feeling a twinge of guilt when a message from Sonia sits too long in his phone. Sometimes he only has a moment to himself at the very end of the day, and by then he’s so tired that he still manages to forget half the time, but he tries to be better about it. 

Strangely enough, it’s when Magnolia sends her on her research project that Sonia actually starts texting him more. She takes photos of their old haunts, and spitballs theories she’s working on. He makes a bigger effort to respond quicker, even if it gets him into occasional hot water with his trainers, and it’s more than worth it with the amount of selfies she sends. 

Her smiles oscillate from coy to wide to mid-laugh, and he can’t pick a favorite. It’s just nice to finally see her so often again, even if it’s in still images. 

Things are light in their text thread, save for the rare complaint from him about Rose’s secrecy, or her getting frustrated with a dead-end in research. It’s a nice reprieve from the rest of his day, when he’s expected to be on and making sure everyone else is having a champion time; honestly, things have been feeling a lot less never-ending when he knows he has a message waiting from her. 

Still, she usually doesn’t send him anything late, so he immediately knows something’s wrong when he gets a text from her at midnight, just before he falls asleep. 

**From: Sonia [24:03]**   
_Can I call you?_

Without a second thought he hits the call button on her contact page, his Rotomphone hovering above his face as he settles onto his back, his hands behind his head and a worried frown on his face. 

“Hey,” she says after the second ring, and it takes a second but then the video is up on her side and he can see that she’s in some hotel room, sitting at a desk with the yellow glow of a nearby lamp make her hair look like fire. She chews her bottom lip, pulling a knee up to her chest and crouching further into the chair. “I’m sorry to bother you so late, I–” 

His response is quick, leaves no room for debate. “You’re never a bother.” 

“Cheesy.” Her shoulders drop some of the tension they hold, her smile teasing as he tentatively returns it. There’s still a crease in her brow, though, and he hates seeing her shrink when all her photos have been so effortlessly lively. With a sigh and a shake of her head, she mumbles, “But we can talk tomorrow. I’m sure you have to get up early.” 

He shakes his head, gives her a smile that he hopes beyond hope is reassuring. “Let’s talk now. I don’t want you going to bed upset.” 

She smiles, small and tired, and nods. With her cheek resting on her knee, her face is squished, pushing out her lips, and Leon absent-mindedly wonders if her skin is as soft as it looks, what it might be like to run his fingers from her cheekbone along the curve of her jaw and to her pointed chin, and if his thumb brushed against that bitten bottom lip and– 

_Huh,_ is all Leon can think, feeling something hot and feverish travel through his body and pool in his gut. He’s grateful that he’s lying on his back, as it suppresses the shiver traveling down his spine as he brushes up against the long-dormant thought that Sonia is, for lack of a better word because he’s at a loss for them right now, hot. 

And _huh_ , is that something friends think about each other? Surely anyone who can see would agree that Sonia’s attractive, just objectively, which makes that half of his realization innocent enough. 

It’s the other half of his realization, the half that’s screaming at him to act on it, to start filling his head with images and sounds that are going to take an extremely cold shower to get rid of, that has him reeling. His throat goes tight and his mind jumps back to when he was fifteen and alone in a tent with her, and he wanted to kiss her so badly, wanted to devour her so desperately, that it scared him out of doing anything at all. 

He recognizes what that is now, but he still can’t bring himself to say it because things are so fragile, and he’s only just gotten her back, and he knows that he can’t give her everything she deserves right now, not when they haven’t even been in the same room for weeks. 

She lifts her head, and he forces his body to calm down with a tinge of guilt, because she called him about something that’s clearly bothering her and he’s over here fantasizing about her in ways that are certainly not platonic. 

“Did you hear about what happened in Stow-on-Side? With that challenger, Bede?” 

“Bits and pieces,” he mumbles, because the name’s come up and he’s had the passing thought that he should try and meet with Rose about it, but he’s been stuck in meetings with sponsors all day. He remembers that she texted him the other day about heading to Stow-on-Side, and his stomach drops when he realizes, “You were there when it happened, weren’t you?” 

Sonia lets out a shaky breath, and he can’t tell if the noise she lets out at the end is something approaching a laugh or a sob. “Yeah, it...it was a lot.” 

“Are you okay?” 

“Absolutely ecstatic about the discovery and what it means for Galar’s history but otherwise, well, I’m not sure.” Her body shifts, and she’s leaning her elbows onto the desk now, her Rotomphone adjusting. He can see that the desktop is covered in books and papers, a pen drying out on top of a notepad. Her eyes glaze over, looking off to the right at something he can’t see as she whispers into the crook of her elbow, “It brought up something in me, like a bad memory, and then I started thinking and I...” 

His heart wrenches, and he turns onto his side to hold a pillow to his chest because he can’t hold her. She seems to remember herself then, looks at him through the phone screen and gives a half shrug, trying for a self-deprecating laugh that falls flat. 

“It’s silly, I don’t know.” 

He squeezes the pillow tighter, keeps his voice gentle and just short of a plea as he says, “Tell me.” 

She searches his eyes, her smile getting smaller until it’s replaced with a small frown. “When they disqualified him, the look on his face – I know it’s not the same thing, but I remembered what it was like, to be staring at this big unknown future and feel so lost.” With a sigh, she glances at the notepad, picking up the pen and tapping it against the paper, lost in a thought as she adds, “And of course, I had to focus on the revealed statues, because they had the site roped off for further investigation in just an hour, but now I can’t stop thinking about all of it.” 

Leon frowns, eyes unfocused as the Sonia on screen blurs with one from his memory, the bill of her cap obscuring her downcast eyes, bottom lip worried between her teeth. 

It’s odd to see the two mix, especially when in his mind, Sonia has always been leaps ahead of him, always calm and collected and calculating the sorts of next steps that never occur to him. There were only a few times, after Circhester on their gym journey, when he caught glimpses of the girl he sees now. Someone withdrawn and wilting, a stranger he doesn’t know how to help and who he can feel pushing him away. 

But she isn’t a stranger, and that’s the mistake he can’t afford to make again. She’s still Sonia, and he still doesn’t know the best way to help, but he can try all the same. 

She notices his silence, fidgeting with the pen in her hands as she lets out a nervous chuckle. “Sorry, that’s a lot to unload on you.” 

“I’m glad you told me,” he says quickly, giving her a small smile as her face twists into a pensive frown. 

“You have better things to worry about.” 

“Yeah, but I want to worry about you.” 

The screen goes black for a moment due to the poor connection, and then she’s back, leaning her chin in her hand as her eyes glaze over in something soft and curious. A corner of her lips quirk up, and he tries to stay focused and not think about kissing it (and fails). “Now why would you go and do that?” 

He isn’t sure – no, that’s a lie, because there’s that voice in his head, the one that’s selfish that he’s learned to keep quiet that whispers in his mind, _Just because I want to, just because out of this entire region you’re one of a handful of people I actually care about._

But that’s not an answer befitting of a champion, so he shrugs, chuckling it off along with her as they stare at each other from miles away. 

As the silence stretches, it’s not uncomfortable, and Leon finds himself looking at the pillow in his hands, losing himself in a memory. When he looks back up, Sonia seems to be in a similar state, underlining something on her notepad slowly despite the unfocused gaze of her eyes. He clears his throat and her eyes snap to his, patient and waiting. 

Arceus, how long has she been waiting? 

Long enough to send another hot wash of guilt over him that has him frowning as he mumbles, “Can I ask a strange question? It’s sort of related.” 

She gives him a lopsided little smile; it’s the teasing one she gave him all those years ago that’s grown into something even better now. “All your questions are strange.” 

He shares in a laugh at his expense, but then his face falls and she grows more somber. After a deep breath, he locks eyes with her again, and the hurt must be evident because she nearly flinches, brows furrowing even before he can get the question out. 

“Why didn’t you tell me when you dropped out of the gym challenge?” 

Her lips part, and she blinks for a moment, clearly thrown off. She sits back in her chair, tucking her pen behind her ear before crossing her arms and taking a moment to think as she stares at the desk. 

“I didn’t tell _anybody._ Didn’t even really plan it, it just sort of happened.” Her voice is small but steady, and when she looks up at him once more it’s like she’s seeing him for the first time, blinking back long-forgotten tears that have already dried on her cheeks. “You were well on your way to becoming Champion, so I was embarrassed, and confused, and...” 

The silence scratches at a sensitive spot in his heart. She hugs herself, conceals it with a shrug before she whispers, “And I knew you didn’t need me anymore.” 

“But I wanted you there.” 

He keeps his gaze intently on her, watching as tension melts from her shoulders and she tilts her head. With a quick breath to steady himself, to gather his thoughts, he puts the pillow in his arms aside and sits up. When his Rotomphone adjusts, he runs a hand through his hair, still not quite sure what he wants to say but knowing it’s one of several dozen things he should’ve told her years ago. 

“I know I should’ve showed it, should’ve made a better effort but I got so caught up in everything and I – I really wanted my best mate there.” A hard swallow, and then he’s seeing her, really seeing all of her, for what feels like the first time in his life. “I’m sorry, Sonia.” 

She’s quiet for a moment, chewing on her cheek as she nods to herself and considers his words. For a moment, his heart sinks and he thinks she might rebuke him, might end their call and their texts and everything, and she’d be in the right for it. 

But that’s not the Sonia he knows, and the Sonia he loves – loves in every sense of that word, which he’ll have to unpack later in all its intricacies – smiles, just a twinge nostalgic and a hair merciful. 

“You know I forgave you for all this before it even happened, right?” 

His chuckle is equal parts disbelieving and relieved, and he lets himself fall back onto his bed with closed eyes, her giggle adding fuel to his grin. When he opens his eyes a moment later, the screen of his phone is back in front of his face and she’s twirling the pen now with a smirk. He sighs, sweet and low, “I don’t deserve you.” 

“Yeah you do,” she tells him matter-of-factly, leaning forward to rearrange a stack of papers on the desk as she fixes him with a look that leaves no room for argument. “You deserve a lot, what with all the hard work you put in.” 

Leon feels some sort of weight lift off his chest, takes a deep breath with his lungs and swears the air is lighter now. With the way she’s looking at him, just like she would when she’d beat him at a video game late at night in his room, but with an undercurrent of something honeyed, he thinks he might be in a dream. 

With a yawn, he settles back into his pillows, and decides that dream or not, he’s going to be the man he couldn’t when he was younger, that just this once he’ll play favorites because it’s the least that Sonia deserves. Maybe next time he’ll pull down the moon for her, rearrange a few stars, but for now he settles on mumbling with a sleepy smile, “Hey, tell me more about those statues.” 

And her eyes absolutely light up as she starts to go through her notes, and he gets a strange case of reverse déjà vu as her words come flying out at a mile a minute. He listens as best he can, making the occasional humming noise of agreement or intrigue, and his eyelids grow heavy as he gets lost in her voice. 

He falls asleep not long after, and she’s quick to notice with the way he’s snoring. She brings her lecture to a stop, looking at his sleeping face on the screen with a small smile as she puts the cap back on her pen. 

If her finger hovers over the button to hang up, hesitating as she looks at his parted lips while a familiar ache takes over her body, then he’s none the wiser. 

* * *

In hindsight, they probably could have used a _little_ more help in Hammerlocke. 

Still, they make a good team, with Sonia navigating them around the outskirts of the city, able to cross reference social media sightings and coordinates sent by her grandmother to plot a route as Leon shouts out commands to his Charizard to handle the Dynamax Pokémon they come across. 

Not to say that it isn’t chaotic, with civilians brushing past them, and more than a few close calls. Sonia finds she has her nose stuck a little too close to her screen, and more than once Leon has either Charizard or himself jump out to shield her from the falling debris of the city wall or a swipe from a Dynamax victim. 

They end up working their way towards the center of the city, eventually reaching the gym where Raihan and his trainers are, quite literally, holding down the fort. By then, the spikes in Dynamax energy have passed, and it’s just a matter of assessing the damage to the city and any civilian injuries. However, as Leon and Raihan discuss next steps (and not-so-subtly compare how many Dynamax Pokémon they each wrangled), Sonia has a sneaking suspicion that she knows the origin of all this. 

She turns from her spot in the gym lobby, after staring holes into the elevator door. Leon notices the movement, letting his sentence die on his tongue and causing Raihan to turn and look at her with a raised brow. With a jerk of her head towards the elevator, she asks, “Think you could get me in? It has to be the power plant that’s causing all this, and I’d want to try my hand at diagnosing it.” 

“Macro keeps it under a pretty tight lock and key.” Raihan frowns, adjusting his headband before shaking his head, giving her a wink as he mumbles, “Let me see what I can do for you, Miss Clever Clogs.” 

He grins at her scowl, giving Leon a nod before turning and heading back, his Rotomphone flying behind him. 

“I swear, he’s forgotten my name.” 

Leon looks down at her with an earnest smile. “Nah, you’re a hard one to forget.” 

The way she looks up at him has him wondering if he’s said something wrong for a moment, or maybe grown a third head, but then a blush is spreading across her cheeks. She nervously twirls the end of her ponytail, and his smile grows because this is a reaction he’s never been able to get out of her before and it’s quite a sight. 

When she meets his eyes once more, opening her mouth to say something snarky to try and recover, she instead focuses on a spot just above his eyes. Her lips remain parted as her eyes grow wide, and the blush is replaced by pallor. 

“Bleeding.” 

“Where?” His brows furrow and he steps closer to her, getting ready to inspect her when she shakes her head with a huff. 

“ _You._ Your temple’s bleeding, Lee.” He lifts a hand to where she’s pointing at his right temple, and winces when he finds that yes, he did manage to get a cut there. She tuts, grabbing his hand as she begins walking towards the receptionist desk where a crowd of gym trainers has gathered. “C’mon, I’m getting you patched up.” 

“It’s just a scratch.” 

It’s not just a scratch according to the look she gives him, and so he simply lifts his hands up in surrender, biting back an amused smile as she makes her way through the crowd and trades a few words with the harried receptionist, who all but tosses a first aid kit at here. With the plastic box in hand, she walks back to him and guides him to a nearby bench, quickly opening the kit on her lap and dousing a cotton pad in some antiseptic. 

“Even scratches can get infected or leave scars,” she explains firmly, before leaning over to carefully dab at the cut. 

He nearly goes cross-eyed trying to watch her, just able to make out her frown of concentration as she leans back, setting aside the cotton pad and instead focusing on opening a band-aid. Today has been stressful to say the least, and seeing her still so tense and wired up, as if waiting for the next calamity to strike, has him feeling at least a little guilty for roping her into this mess – a mess he should be able to handle by himself as the Champion. 

So he shrugs, keeps his voice light as he says, “Really Sonia, I’m all right.” 

“But it could have been worse.” She huffs, nearly ripping the band-aid as she opens the package. With a quick breath, she steadies her hands enough to lean back into his space and carefully place it over the cut on his temple. “Could’ve knocked your head with all the debris, and who knows what other injuries you’re ignoring now, all because you kept jumping in front of me.” 

Now it’s Leon’s turn to frown. “Well I couldn’t let you go and get hurt.” 

She doesn’t seem to hear him, doesn’t seem to really be hearing anything as she sits back, fumbling with what to do with the trash she now has and the first aid kit still in her lap as she continues, voice growing more frantic with her movements, “And this is happening more and more often and of course you’ll have to be at the frontlines because you’re Champion, this is your job, but you’re just one person Leon. Who on earth is looking out for _you_ when you’re too busy looking out for everyone else? What happens when next time I’m not there to push you out of the way?” 

The slam of the first aid kit shut might as well be a bomb with how he flinches, and he blinks, looking down at Sonia and realizing with a start that she’s on the verge of tears, her shoulders shaking with the effort to hold it back and keep it together. 

It’s pure instinct that has him leaning forward, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close enough to feel his heartbeat, to know that he’s safe now. With a shaky sigh, she buries her face into his chest, grabbing at the front of his shirt to keep him close, and Leon feels a surge of protectiveness rush through him. 

Galar might need their Champion right now, but Sonia needs him (and he’s intent on keeping the promise he made to himself to give her everything she needs). 

He rests his head on top of hers, mumbling into her hair, “I’ll be more careful, promise.” 

She groans, and he can practically feel her rolling her eyes. “No you won’t.” 

They share a laugh, though hers comes with a few stray tears slipping through. When she pulls back, he fights the urge to pull her back in, instead keeping his hands on her arms as she takes a deep breath, wiping at her eyes. It smudges her mascara, but she doesn’t seem to notice or care, and he certainly doesn’t when she gives him a small smile a moment later, eyes flickering to the floor in a moment of self-consciousness. 

“Sorry for freaking out on you. You know what you’re doing, you just gave me a proper scare seeing you in action today.” 

He raises a brow, his grin very nearly splitting his face. “Just a scare? I didn’t inspire you to have a champion time?” 

“When’d you get so cheeky?” She chuckles, letting go of his shirt and instead settling her hands on top of the first aid kit. 

“Easiest way to make you smile.” It comes out quick and with a shrug, leaving her blinking as he reaches a hand up to gently wipe at a tear track still on her cheek. 

His fingers linger, tracing the curve of her cheek and he finds that her skin is actually softer than he thought, and the blush that’s overtaking it has him feeling warm and hazy. He bites his cheek, eyes settling on her parted lips and transfixed as he watches her breath hitch. By the time he looks back up into her eyes, he knows he’s been caught, and there’s a glimmer of something he can’t identify in her eyes that has him seriously considering leaning in. 

But they’re in Hammerlocke gym, moments after disaster and a lecture, and he’ll have to run in just a few more minutes; this isn’t the time nor place. Of course, he’ll probably imagine that exact scenario in his head later tonight when he can’t sleep, wondering what would have happened if he let his hand wander further down, or if she whispered his name and– 

He clears his throat, pulling his hands back to himself and doing his best to muster a neutral smile on his face. “Think I’m gonna be okay, doc?” 

She’s still a bit dazed, though, tilting her head and looking at him like he’s something (something really good). With a faint smile and no second thought, she leans up and places her lips against his temple, just shy of the band-aid. 

When she pulls back, he’s fairly certain he’s gaping like a Feebas. That’s all but confirmed when she giggles, standing up with the first aid kit and giving him a wink, her voice dipping into something that will absolutely be making a guest appearance in his dreams tonight. 

“Now you will be.” 

Ironically enough, it’s only now, after she’s patched him up and gone to return the medical supplies that Leon thinks he might need medical attention with how frantically his heart is beating. 

* * *

It’s nearly silent in his locker room, a far cry from the roar of the crowd just moments ago. Everything is a bit of a blur in his mind, even while it was happening, like an out of body experience or daydream. 

But now the dust has settled, and he sits on a metal bench with the realization that Leon, the undefeated Champion of Galar, is no more. 

His cape is...somewhere. At any rate, it’s not actually his cape anymore. There’s a lot that isn’t his anymore, and it paralyzes him, leaves his body frozen as he focuses on simply breathing and letting the reality wash over him. He’s got a better grip on things when he hears the door creak open slowly, and he whips his head quickly over to try and see who it might be, what kind of smile he needs to put on. 

“Leon?” Sonia’s voice has his shoulders dropping back down, relaxed and deciding that if anyone’s going to see him in the state that he’s actually in, it should be her. Her heels click against the floor, and then she pauses, asking hesitantly, “You’re not changing, are you?” 

“No.” 

“Oh good, thought for a second I might have to stumble around with my eyes closed.” 

The door shuts closed behind her, and a few moments later, she’s poking her head out around the corner, biting her lip as she takes in his wilted form and does her best to give him a smile. “Hey.” 

“Hey,” he mumbles, and his voice is rough. He clears his throat, but then he finds he doesn’t have much else to say – what's there to say when it feels like the end of everything? 

She takes a few steps closer to him, just short of the bench as she clasps her hands behind her back, not quite meeting his eyes because he wants to keep his gaze on the floor. It’s hard to face her now that she’s a professor with a book on the way and a whole region to rework and dissect, and he’s just Leon. 

A voice in his head sneers something about karma, reversal of fortune, and he takes the hit of guilt because it’s just another in a long line of confusing emotions. 

Her voice is small when she speaks once more, shifting her weight and trying to catch his eye. “I figured you might not want to be alone right now. But I could leave, if–” 

“No, no I...I want you here.” Finally, he looks up at her, and there isn’t an ounce of pity or disgust or really anything he feared. She’s still Sonia, and she’s still looking at him like the Leon she knows, if a little softer and timid now. 

“Here I am.” A corner of her lips quirks up, and she takes a seat next to him, their arms brushing so that he realizes that without the cape it’s a lot easier to feel her from this distance, to soak up the warmth she always radiates. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath and lets himself revel in this little moment of sunshine, and she lets him as several quiet moments pass between them before she asks, “Up to talk about it?” 

Maybe it’ll make him feel better. After all, she’s always been a good listener, and he bets she’d have the best advice for what to do next. The problem is, he can’t bring himself to really think about it, only just now getting over the hurdle of what it means to lose after a lifetime of avoiding it, and so he can only sigh. 

“Not really.” 

He thinks she might stand up then, leave him to wallow, but she only nods. “We can just sit then.” 

In the silence, he keeps his gaze down, noticing her hand next to his leg on the bench. Without thinking, he places his own over it, interlacing their fingers slowly. She doesn’t say a word, letting him and turning her hand so she can squeeze his, and she shifts just a hair closer to him. The sleeve of her lab coat is soft against his arm, and her hand is so small but so steady in his as she rubs circles into his skin with her thumb. 

The minutes pass, or it might be seconds (hours seems like a stretch, but then him losing to one of the challengers he endorsed after defeating a primordial beast is also a stretch – really, this whole week has been a stretch). 

He wants to say something, but his mind has gone from a cyclone to silence, only pulling up blanks as he grasps at what to tell her. Eventually, he settles on telling her what feels truest in the moment. 

“I don’t know what happens next.” 

She hums, gives his hand another squeeze to let him know she’s thinking on it. “Well, we’ll sneak you out of the stadium if you don’t feel up to talking to the cameras. Then we can get some takeaway with Raihan and Nessa, hole up in your apartment for the night. Or whatever you want, really.” 

Some final piece in him clicks into place, and he looks up at her, eyes not quite focused as he struggles to find his voice. 

“Whatever _I_ want?” he whispers, like it’s a foreign concept. In a lot of ways, it is, and with just those few words she’s taking what he’s thought to be the biggest loss of his life and spinning it on its head. 

After all, this isn’t any worse than the day he lost her (and she’s back now, isn’t she?). 

“Of course.” She gives him a smile, and something else locks inside of him, so that his bottom lip is trembling and he can’t place why. With a tilt of her head, she chews her cheek for a second before adding with a smirk, “Well, maybe not _whatever –_ I’ll put my foot down at getting a quarter life crisis tattoo, no matter what Raihan says.” 

He lets out a bark of laughter that has her smiling, but then it morphs into something like a sob, and there are tears running down his cheeks as he pulls her into a crushing hug. She lets him cry on her shirt, rubbing his back as he tries to keep breathing, to keep processing just what this means. 

It’s his choice. It’s his life. 

Finally, it’s his life, and he’s never been so relieved. 

There’ll be plenty of actual work to do soon, and of course he can’t stay away from battling for long, but those are things to consider later, when Sonia isn’t holding him and he actually comes to grips with the fact that he’s lost and he’s actually _grateful_ for it. Everything still feels too slippery to really hold onto, but he at least calms himself down enough to get his voice back, to think of the first thing he wants to do now that there isn’t a cape weighing him down, an entire region depending on him. 

“I want to see you every day.” 

She looks down at him with wide eyes that melt into a smile, burying her face into the crook of his neck as she squeezes him impossibly tighter. 

“I want that, too.” 

They stay like that for a little while longer, and then she helps him look presentable once more as they go out to face the cameras, and he faces the first real day of his life. 

* * *

Wedgehurst is as quiet as ever, a fact that Leon’s become reacquainted with. There’s a lot about Galar that’s passed him by the past few years, despite being the Champion. It’s more than a little disheartening to consider what else he’s missed, but he doesn’t like to dwell on it, especially not now when he can finally see the front door of the lab after seven wrong turns. 

He grips the strap of his bag tighter, opening the door and smiling wider as the smell of Sonia’s favorite tea hits his nostrils. “Hello?” 

A moment later, Yamper comes charging at him, tongue lolling and tail wagging as he yips. Leon bends down with a chuckle, giving the little Pokémon a frankly indulgent amount of pets until he hears the sound of heels clicking against the tile. When he looks up, Sonia’s walking towards him, ponytail swishing as she lifts a hand out of her lab coat pocket to give him a wave. Her smile is brighter than ever, and he struggles to stand as he feels his knees weaken when she chimes sweetly, “Hi Lee! What brings you to the lab?” 

His entire mind blanks out, all memories of the plan he’s been psyching himself up for in the past week replaced with Sonia. 

Today is the day that he feels like he finally has his life together – and it’s wholly his – and so today’s the day he’s going to tell her everything he couldn’t when he was a fifteen year-old too focused on the things that didn’t matter. 

He would, but his throat is growing tight and he finds that his voice is nowhere to be found. 

Because Leon has read every book on training, memorized all the best strategies for battling, has mastered the art of interviews, and is even prepped to handle any major disaster that could befall the region. Countless hours have been spent by others to mold him into the perfect Champion, but they forgot to give him the one skill he actually needs in this moment. 

How to, coherently and without fear of rejection, tell the most amazing people you know that you think they’re the most amazing people you know (and that you’d also like to make out). 

He steels his nerves, holds her gaze, and opens his mouth. 

“Just wanted to give Hop the latest news on the Battle Tower.” 

And promptly chickens out, mentally smacking himself as he scrambles to recover. 

“Oh, well he just stepped out to pick up lunch for us, but he’ll be back soon.” If Sonia can see any of his internal distress, then she doesn’t show it, instead giving a nod. To be fair, he’s been stopping by the lab to actually do just that for a while now, ever since he got the go-ahead to remodel Rose Tower and drew up his plans. 

His palms are a little sweaty now, and he can’t quite look at her as he mumbles, “Okay, great, yeah.” 

She must pick up on it now, walking just a little closer and tilting her head; he can practically feel her decoding his every move with a little smile, no doubt right with every interpretation. “Is that all?” 

“I came to...See, I also came because...I...” The words die on his tongue as he takes a deep breath, looking down at her and grasping for solid land as the floor falls out from under his feet. Of course, it’s at this exact moment when he finally reverts to his teenage self, because no one can undo him quite like her. 

Realizing he’s stayed silent for too long, and she’s raising a brow, he blurts out the first thing that comes to mind as he grips the strap of his bag tighter. 

“I’d like an autograph.” 

He closes his eyes, inhaling through his nose because _no,_ that’s not at all what he came here for. Still, he’ll feel more idiotic if he backtracks now, and so he opens his bag and pulls out the copy of her book that he had preordered the day she told him it was up. 

Her eyes widen, voice nearly breathless as her gaze flickers between the familiar cover and his face. “You bought my book?” 

“Well yeah.” She has a look of pleasant surprise, and he remembers something, opening up the book and flipping through to get to one of the pages he’s marked, trying to find that one brilliant section he underlined twice. “Thought I might not get most of it, but you’ve always been really great at explaining things. Like there’s this part in chapter five–” 

“You _read_ my book?” 

When he looks back up at her, she’s smiling so wide that it must hurt her cheeks, and it seems like her whole body may start vibrating at any second. He furrows his brows, closing the book as he chuckles, “Not much point in buying a book otherwise.” 

She shakes her head with a laugh, and then she’s lunging at him for a hug, one he happily (albeit, confusedly) accepts. With her arms still around his neck, she pulls back to look at him, face slightly flushed and her lips are moving but the words hit in slow motion. 

“I could kiss you right now!” 

Leon thinks, in this moment, that he may have died and this is just what heaven looks like. 

However, as the silence stretches on and Sonia’s face falls into confusion, he realizes that this is not, in fact, heaven, and it’s getting awkward. He swallows hard, wills his eyes to stay on hers and not look at her lips (which he instantly fails) and prays the heat he feels on his cheeks hasn’t ignited into a full blush. He needs to say something to remedy this, and quick. 

“O-oh.” 

That doesn’t help at all. None of this is going according to plan and he could bash his head against the wall right about now. 

Sonia releases him from the hug, but doesn’t step back as she rubs her arm, her gaze going to the floor as she seems to realize her own words, quickly stammering, “I’m just teasing. The expression, y’know? I, um, didn’t mean–” 

“Wish you would.” 

It’s out before he can even think to stop it, and his grip on the book tightens like a lifeline. In the silence when she meets his gaze, his stomach drops. 

“...what?” 

_In for a penny, in for a pound,_ he thinks to himself as he summons the last of his nerve to go through with it. Sure, it’s been a total disaster so far, but on the bright side, there’s no way he can say anything that would embarrass him further. 

“I’ve wanted to kiss you since we were fifteen.” 

Well, he’s always been good at defying expectations anyway. Now he’s sure he’s blushing, and he realizes he’s still holding the book which feels stupid, so he fumbles to get it back in his bag, and of course now is the moment when it doesn’t want to fit. 

She watches him with parted lips, and when he finally stops messing with his bag and looks up, she asks softly, “Why didn’t you?” His ears burn and he mutters something under his breath, so quiet she can’t catch it even when she’s centimeters away. “Sorry?” 

“Because I couldn’t tell if you wanted to and I was too afraid that I was inexperienced and I’d mess it up,” he blurts, looking her right in the eye because there’s no shame left to inhibit him. 

The lab is quiet, and they simply stare at each other for the longest moment of his life. 

And then she’s smiling, on the verge of a giggle as her eyes sparkle. “Leon, can I kiss you?” 

His palms are starting to sweat with the realization that this might actually happen, that of course he didn’t think this far ahead, leaving him to panic. “Why?” 

She laughs, and suddenly they’re two kids from neighboring towns again, and he’s just asked a stupid question on purpose to get that one smile out of her, and he realizes he actually doesn’t have to die to get to heaven. 

“Partly because you bought my book, helped me in Hammerlocke, and you’re the cutest person I’ve ever met,” she tells him truthfully, twirling a lock of hair around her finger as she bites her lip before biting the bullet and whispering, “But mostly because I think I’ve been in love with you since we were fifteen.” 

He blinks, feels his entire body freeze and then restart, and then he’s smiling down at her like she hung up the stars and moon. 

“Holy shit.” 

“Is that a yes?” She lifts a brow, already knowing the answer as he leans down. 

Kissing the new girl in Wedgehurst has taken him over ten years, and it’s worth every second of the wait. Her lips are soft, and her fingers tangle in his hair, and it’s all something floral, or maybe mint, or maybe something that he’ll never be able to identify but that he’ll never get enough of. 

When she pulls away, her eyes fluttering open, he’s frowning softly, refusing to let her go as she asks, “What’s wrong?” 

He shakes his head. “Too short. One more?” 

She rolls her eyes, giggling but all too happy to comply, and her body is flush against his, warm and soft like the days they spent by the lake. When she sighs into his mouth, nearly melting in his arms, he smiles and feels something in the universe shift into place. 

Then she’s pulling away, and he’s all but pouting, refusing to open his eyes and break the moment as he asks shyly, “...one more?” 

“Y’know, you can kiss me whenever you want.” Her tone is a playful hum, and when he opens his eyes, he can tell she’ll be holding this over his head for weeks now, and he’s looking forward to it. 

“I want to kiss you now.” 

She blinks, and he can feel her heartbeat speed up as her face flushes, and she mutters something like “silly boy” as she’s leaning back up to kiss him again. There’s a hunger in this kiss as the years spent waiting catch up to them, and he’s walking her backwards until the back of her legs hit the counter. She hops up without even breaking their kiss (which he notes for later, should this situation ever arise again) (and it will if he has anything to say about it). 

Her hands start tugging at his sweatshirt, and his are wandering down her sides, about to slide her lab coat off and– 

“Sorry for the delay So– _whoa what.”_

They freeze, eyes bursting open as they turn to find that Hop’s back, standing by the kitchen table that now holds a plastic bag of takeaway boxes. The young boy’s eyes are wide, like a Deerling in headlights, and Leon realizes there’s actually just a smidge of shame left in him and it kills him now, instantly. 

Sonia is the first to break the awful silence, clearing her throat as she slides her lab coat back up on her shoulders, her voice practically a squeak as she says, “H-hey, um, this isn’t...” 

Hop looks between the two, clearly knowing exactly what’s happening, and his face morphs through all seven stages of grief. Then Leon blinks, and his younger brother is giving him a wide, impish grin, the spark of revenge lighting his eyes. 

“I’m telling Mum.” 

He turns and bolts for the door, Leon’s blood running cold and stunning him before he springs into action, running after him. “Hop, I swear to–” 

But it’s no use, because his brother is off and running with a cackle, halfway to their house by the time Leon makes it to the doorway of the lab. Sonia watches his shoulders deflate in defeat, biting back a laugh at his expense as she slides off the counter and heads towards the kitchen. The plastic bag rustles as she takes out the plastic boxes from the curry place down the street, drawing the attention of both Leon and Yamper, who scampers out of whatever hiding place he’s found at the mere suggestion of food. 

She holds up a box, wiggling it a bit with a smirk directed at Leon, who seems resigned to whatever excruciatingly embarrassing conversation is going to happen the next time he sees his mom. “Can I offer you some takeaway in these trying times?” 

He sighs, nodding sullenly and sulking over to the table as she chuckles, getting them silverware and setting up placemats. 

It’s hard to be sour, though, when Sonia pulls up her chair right next to his, Yamper lying at his feet, and warm sunshine filtering through the window as he tells Sonia all about his plans for the Battle Tower, and she tells him all about the lecture series she’s planning on historical revisionism. 

And he wonders, just for a moment, what that boy from Postwick and that girl from Wedgehurst would think if they could see them now. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it took longer than expected (and got longer than expected) but here's that promised happy ending because it's what they deserve
> 
> no Hops were traumatized in the making of this fic (though he will absolutely bring up this moment in his speech at the wedding)


End file.
